🇧🇾 FC Partisan Minsk (Belarus)

FC Partisan Minsk (Belarus)

A country that is not so much known for it’s footballing pedigree, yet there were plenty of football clubs I could have chosen from this nation to feature in this book. A country that only became independent in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has had seven different winners of its domestic league, although one club, BATE Borisov, won thirteen of them consecutively, from 2006-2018. It is because of BATE Borisov that football fans even acknowledge Belarusian football, as the club have made over 150 appearances in European competitions, with 93 of them coming in the Champions League alone. And they weren’t just there to make up the numbers either, as they qualified for the group stage five times in their history. They faced and beat some of the giants of Europe as well, and it was all against the odds, as Belarusian football is not exactly a hotbed of football talent. The only player that many football fans would recognise from Belarus is former Arsenal and Barcelona winger, Alexander Hleb. The country isn’t known for having players playing in the major leagues around Europe or even the world. But that is no reason to leave them out and I found myself delving even deeper into Belarussian football as I researched this particular club. One of the more modern clubs to feature in this book, it is a story of a club who relied too much on one rich businessman, who when he got into trouble dropped the football club like a hot potato. It wasn’t the only club he owned either, but the other two survived, just about. Unfortunately, FC Partizan Minsk did not. Here is what to them.

Founded in 2002 as MTZ-RIPO Minsk, the club was formed after two clubs in the city of Minsk merged. They were the well-established Traktor Minsk, a club who were originally founded in 1947 and have since been re-founded in 2015 and academy side Trudovye Rezervy-RIPO Minsk. The idea behind the project was that the club would be a professional club with the financial resources Traktor Minsk brought to the table and the potential of creating their own talent in the school of football that had been brought to the table by Trudovye Reservy. It was an immediate success with the club winning the Second League in 2002, gaining promotion to the First League for the 2003 season. They continued their progress, finishing 2^nd that season, only losing out to Lokomotiv Vitebsk in a play-off for the title, after the two sides finished on the exact same points tally, 70. MTZ won twenty-tow of their matches, drawing four and losing just four all season. In fact, Minsk had a better goal difference then their rivals but the league decided a play-off at a neutral venue would be the fairest way to decide who would be crowned champions. Vitebsk won the game 2-1, played at Baranovivhi. MTZ still gained promotion to the Belarusian Premier League and many saw them as dark horses going into the 2004 season. However, they were brought back down to earth that season, finishing 14^th, and having to play in a promotion/relegation play-off against the 15th placed team, who were their promotion rivals the year before, Lokomotiv Vitebsk. The two clubs had finished level on points once again, and once again Minsk had the better goal difference, but the Belarusian FA felt, once again, that the fairest way to decide who got relegated was to play a one off game at a neutral venue. Just like the season before, Baranovichi was the venue picked for the match, but unlike the season before, MTZ came out on top, winning the game 4-1, with goals from Zelmikas (15^th), Mkhitaryan (34^th), Fedorchenko (55^th) and Parfenov (61^st). Yeremeyev replied in the 66^th minute for Vitebsk but the game had been long over.

Too add to the joy of avoiding relegation, MTZ also won the Belarus Cup, causing a huge upset, beating BATE Borisov in the final, 2-1 at the Dinamo Stadium in Minsk. After going a goal down in the 28^th minute from a Lebedzew strike, few would have given MTZ a chance of a comeback. But that’s exactly what they did, hitting back just before half-time, when Ukranian, Fedorov hit the back of the net in the 42^nd minute. The sides went in level at half time, and it left the 15,500 fans anticipate an exciting second half. Many expected BATE to come out blazing, but MTZ were not to be broken and it was the newly promoted side who took the lead in the 73^rd minute thanks to forward, Artem Kontsevoy. Borisov had no reply and MTZ won their first major trophy in the club’s short history. With the cup win they also gained qualification to the 2005-06 UEFA Cup first round. With their success and their place in the Belarussian Premier League secured for the next season came attention from investors. This, to some, could be seen as the beginning of the end for the club.

They made their European debut against Hungarian side, Ferencvaros in the Central-East region qualifiers. The Belarussian side won the first leg away from, 2-0, but lost the second leg at home, 2-1. It was enough to see them through, 3-2, on aggregate and progress to the next round to face Czech side, FK Teplice. After drawing the first leg at home, 1-1, they lost away 2-1, ending their European journey that season. But it was the off-field situation that most MTZ fans were concerned about as news emerged that Russian-Lithuanian businessman Vladmir Romanov had bought the club, adding to his portfolio of football clubs that included Scottish club Hearts and Lithuanian side FC Kaunas. It saw many players being loaned between the three clubs. At first, it seemed as though the project was working and the 2005 season saw the club finish 3^rd, only one point behind their city rivals, Dynamo Minsk, a club who they had born a fierce rivalry with since their entry to the Belarusian Premier League. The rivalry ran deeper than football, with political agendas and alliances being a part of the animosity between the two clubs’ fans. The third-place finish saw the club once again qualify for European competition, this time the Intertoto Cup.

This time their European adventure started against Kazakhstani side, Shakhter Karagandy, with a 5-1 win in the first game, away from home. The tie had already been won, but MTZ were made sweat when they were pushed all the way by Karagandy in the second leg, losing 3-1 in Minsk. It set up a tie with the newly formed FC Moscow, who had only been founded in 2004. (They have since been dissolved in 2010). The Russians won the tie 3-0 on aggregate and once again MTZ were knocked out in the second round of a European competition. The 2006 season saw the club just miss out on playing in Europe for the third time, as they finished fourth, one point behind third placed, Shakhtor Soligorsk. That season saw three MTZ players finish in the top seven of goal scorers that season. They were Vyacheslav Hleb, brother of former Arsenal and Barcelona winger, Alexander Hleb, Artyom Kontsevoy and Oleg Strakhanovich.

The 2007 season saw the club finish 5^th but they still qualified for the 2008 UEFA Cup due to their triumph in the Belarus Cup. It was their second major trophy and they won it by beating Shakhtyor Soligorsk in the final. The Minsk club ran out 2-1 winners in a game that was decided by a late Strakhanovich goal in the 83^rd minute. MTZ had taken an early lead in the 5^th minute thanks to Hleb, and it looked like that would be enough to secure their second Belarus cup until Strypeykis equalised in the 82^nd minute. Almost instantly MTZ hit back and held out to lift the trophy at the Dinamo Stadium.  For the third time in their history, the club would be competing in European competition, but this time would see them knocked out in the first round. It was Slovakian side, Zilina who dumped them out in the early stage, winning 3-2 on aggregate. It didn’t effect their confidence when playing domestically however, and they finished the 2008 season in third place, gaining qualification for the now renamed Europa League. That season saw the club win seventeen, draw six and lose seven. Their success was once again thanks to the goal scoring exploits of Artem Kontsevoy, who finished third top goal scorer with fifteen goals that season, only one behind the joint top scorers that season, Gennadi Bliznyuk and Vitali Rodionov, both of BATE Borisov who had won their third title in a row.

With the newly formed Europa League format in place, MTZ played their first round match against Montenegro side, Sutjeska Niksic. They drew the first leg away home, 1-1 and the second leg in Minsk ended in the same score after 90 minutes meaning the tie went to extra time. It was Mikalay Ryndzyuk who struck the winner and his second of the game in the 111^th minute of the game to set up a second-round match against Ukrainian side, Metalurh Donetsk. MTZ were outplayed and outclassed by their opponents, losing 3-0 at the Metalurh Stadium in Donetsk. The second leg seemed to be an uphill task but MTZ gave it a go and made Metalurh worry when they took the lead in the 16^th minute thanks to Brazilian, Nicolas Ceolin. But the hope of a comeback was to be short lived as Metalurh scored in the 36^th minute to all but end the tie as a contest. The Ukrainians wne ton to win the match on the night thanks to a goal from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the former Manchester United and (Currently at the time of writing) Roma player. It would be the last time MTZ would play in European competition, but they and their fans weren’t to know that at the time.

The 2009 season saw a dramatic fall on the field with the club narrowly avoiding relegation by just a point. They only won eight games all season, drawing six and losing twelve. It was only a stay of execution though, as the 2010 season saw the club, under their new name Partizan Minsk, finish 12^th and bottom of the league, winning only five games all season, drawing eight and losing twenty. They did however, bounce back straight away and the 2011 season in the Belarusian First League saw the club finish second place, behind Slavia Mozyr. It meant Partizan Minsk would have to play in a promotion/relegation play-off match against the team who finished 11^th in the Premier division. That team would be FC Vitebsk, who had also undergone a name change (They have had a few throughout the years). The two clubs had played each other in these types of games before, but they were one-off matches in a neutral venue. This time, it was to be a two-legged affair with the winner gaining their place in the 2012 Belarussian Premier League. Partizan won the first leg at their home ground, Traktor Stadium, 2-0 with goals from Shappyatowski and Makas. The second leg at the CSK Vitebsky was to a much tighter affair. Vitebsk took the lead in the 27^th minute through Sjesarcuks and narrowed the margin but Partizan quickly restored their two-goal advantage three minutes later when they were awarded a penalty. Maskas stepped up and slotted it away to put Partizan Minsk on their way back to the topflight. But Vitebsk were determined not to go down fighting and Artsyom Skitaw’s goal in the 55^th minute made for a nervous ending for the Minsk club. However, they managed to hold out until the 90^th minute and when the whistle blew, they were confirmed as the club who would be competing in the Premier Division in 2012. Well, that was the plan.

The 2012 season was just about to start, when it emerged that Partizan Minsk’s owner, Vladmir Romanov was to abandon the club having ruin into personal legal problems. (Hearts fans will know all about these problems as well). As a result, Partizan no longer had the financial backing they once had and were unable to acquire the licence need to compete in the Premier Division and so they had to withdraw their application, leaving only eleven clubs to compete in Belarus’ top division that season. The club fell down the leagues and found itself playing in the Minsk Championship, an amateur league, finishing only 5^th that season.   In 2013 they renamed themselves again to Partizan-MTZ Minsk and re-joined the second league in a bid to revive themselves and climb back up the ladder, however it was a short-lived dream. After finishing 11^th in the 3^rd tier in 2013 the club withdrew from the league midway through the 2014. The club had folded and were never to play again in the Belarusian football pyramid.

MTZ or Partizan Minsk’s story is one that echo’s around the world and one that nearly every country is familiar with. They started off with a plan and vision, to produce home grown talent and work hard to get to the top of the footballing ladder. In some ways, they reached their goal, winning cups, playing in European competitions and finishing as high as third in the Premier Division behind giants BATE Borisov and their bigger city rivals, Dynamo Minsk. Looking at their attendences, they never really had a huge following and therefore were always going to rely on Romanovs money, which is a dangerous game to play when you are trying to run a football club. Giving one man all the power, also gives him the opportunity to take it all away as well, and in this case he did so, with catastrophic consequences for the club and their fans. It was a case that, while they were successful in their short time of existence, it eventually came at a price. Whilst there are loads of examples of football clubs run by a rich businessman, or a Prince or a company and being successful, it is always a risk and it’s one that most football fans feel uneasy about when the dilemma is put to their football club. Do you swap the certainty of always existing for a few years of success or do you turn it down for decades of watching you club win nothing, only to take joy of winning the odd match against one of the so-called bigger clubs? Partizan Minsk chose the success. But it came at a price. Will they ever return to the world of football? Who knows? But if they do, I bet they will pick the second option of just existing, giving their fans glimmers of hope every season. That’s’ football. That’s why we love it.